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LA LLORONA

(THE WEEPING WOMAN).

Another legend says that La Llorona was a caring woman full of life and love, who married a

wealthy man who lavished her with gifts and attention. However, after she bore him two sons,
he began to change, returning to a life of womanizing and alcohol, often leaving her for months

at a time. He seemingly no longer cared for the beautiful Maria, even talking about leaving her
to marry a woman of his own wealthy class. When he did return home, it was only to visit his

children and the devastated Maria began to feel resentment to-
ward the boys.

La Llorona – The Weeping Woman the Southwest
One evening, as Maria was strolling with her two children on a

shady pathway near the river, her husband came by in a carriage
with an elegant lady beside him. He stopped and spoke to his

children, but ignored Maria, and then drove the carriage down the
road without looking back.

After seeing this Maria went into a terrible rage, and turning
against her children, she seized them and threw them into the

river. As they disappeared downstream, she realized what she
had done and ran down the bank to save them, but it was too
late. Maria broke down into inconsolable grief, running down the streets screaming and wailing.

The beautiful La Llorona mourned them day and night. During this time, she would not eat and
walked along the river in her white gown searching for her boys — hoping they would come

back to her. She cried endlessly as she roamed the riverbanks and her gown became soiled
and torn. When she continued to refuse to eat, she grew thinner and appeared taller until she

looked like a walking skeleton. Still a young woman, she finally died on the banks of the river.
Not long after her death, her restless spirit began to appear, walking the banks of the Santa

Fe River when darkness fell. Her weeping and wailing became a curse of the night and people
began to be afraid to go out after dark. She was said to have been seen drifting between the
trees along the shoreline or floating on the current with her long white gown spread out upon

the waters. On many a dark night, people would see her walking along the riverbank and crying
for her children. And so, they no longer spoke of her as Maria, but rather, La Llorona, the weep-

ing woman. Children are warned not to go out in the dark, for La Llorona might snatch them,
throwing them to their deaths in the flowing waters.

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